Majosta Make Them Die Slowly: The Kinetic Cinema of Umberto Lenzi: Color Edition

He’s remembered by connoisseurs of Italian cult cinema for his notorious cannibal epics like Cannibal Ferox and Eaten Alive!, as well as his high-octane crime films like Almost Human and The Tough Ones, but that’s only part of the story. Umberto Lenzi’s career mirrors that of many of his contemporaries. After establishing himself as a reliable director capable of working on tight budgets and deadlines, he dabbled in just about every genre that was popular at a given time. From costume dramas and peplum adventures to sexy gialli and gory horror romps, he did it all. And, like so many of his contemporaries, he lived and worked through a period of traumatic transition as the ceiling caved in on the Italian film industry as television forever changed the landscape in the 1980s. By the early 1990s, the possibility of getting more films off the ground evaporated into the ether—but unbowed and unbroken, he channeled his energies into a series of well-received novels and gleefully accepted offers from fans and journalists to cast a critical eye across the back catalogue films he made over a directorial career that lasted more than 30 years. Though Lenzi’s more outrageous works have long been embraced by fans of the offbeat and the politically incorrect, the full scope of his filmography has never been afforded a comprehensive overview in English…until now, that is. Troy Howarth, the acclaimed author of such books as Human Beasts: The Films of Paul Naschy, Real Depravities: The Films of Klaus Kinski, and Assault on the System: The Nonconformist Cinema of John Carpenter, guides the reader through the ups and downs of one of Italy’s true cinema provocateurs. In addition to offering ample biographical information on Lenzi’s life and career, as well as in-depth commentary on the man’s films, there are plenty of anecdotes and memories courtesy of friends, colleagues, and even family members which help to flesh out the portrait of a very complex individual. There are also numerous rare behind-the-scenes photos in addition to promotional artwork and images from the films. Over the course of more than 60 feature films, Umberto Lenzi cemented his reputation as a prolific and diverse maker of popular entertainments—and yet, for many he remains a marginal figure. Make Them Die Slowly: The Kinetic Cinema of Umberto Lenzi fills the gap in assessing Lenzi’s place and importance in the wild landscape of Italian genre filmmaking. With so many of his best works finally getting the attention they deserve on home video, the time is ripe for an exploration of the work of a man who devoted his life to his passion for the cinema.